Verve was paid £15,600 to carry out a strategic review of the
council's comms service, which has been posted on the council's website.
The review states: 'The structure of the comms service could benefit
from streamlining.'

It goes on to suggest reducing the structure from 13 posts to nine,
while 'retaining those that offer the most direct and creative input'.
Verve recommends that 'comms should have a much higher profile and
status within the council' and that head of comms Isabell Reid has 'too
low a profile with many senior members'.

This comes on the back of the comms failure at Haringey Council over the
Baby P tragedy. Some in public sector PR have attributed this to the
fact that comms officers are often excluded from the top table.